Rodgers clear about position on James Jones

Read here from jsonline. Not sure really what else Rodgers might say when asked a direct question about a teammate like Jones – but he probably didn’t have to go on to say it should be priority #1. Frankly, I agree with Rodgers. I know Jones was frustrating last year but he does far more good than harm. Issue is price. My guess is TT is not too worried about letting Jones go.

Well, gotta remember that Rodgers is not going to say.. no we shouldn’t worry about him. He’s not important.

Also, its very possible that Rodgers is very close to James Jones. They could get along very well and could have a lot of chemistry. It’s very important between a QB and WR. There is no doubt that James Jones has talent. Consistency is what is questioned. I still think that he’s capable of being a very good WR and being much more consistent.

But in the end, we need to make the smart business move. And financially, we can’t break the bank to keep him. This is likely Drivers last season, but we have Cobb coming in who hopefully can learn things quick and become a big part of our offense year 2. Finley is now back in the offense to go with Jennings and Nelson.

Depth wise, it would be nice. Maybe a guy like Swain can take over should a guy go down but who knows. But financially speaking, we just can’t spend a lot of money on James Jones. Down the road, a year or two from now, we got a lot of contracts to extend. I really hope we try and keep Finley, along with extending Nelson. And thats just the receiving corps. Plenty of other stars on this team that will need big paydays.

Watching Jones was frustrating at times but its worth noting that Rodgers never stopped throwing to him and Jones did make some big catches in the playoffs (Atl). They went through the fire together, learned together and won a Super Bowl together. I’d want to keep the same guys on my team that I did all that with.

that said, I agree with everyone else that from the GM/fan perspective, it only makes sense at the right price.

If your quarterback is as emphatic about his desire to keep a reciever as Rodgers was, you better think twice about letting him get away.

Rodgers did not have to say, in such detail the things he said about James Jones, and after having re-watched the season, I would say that letting Jones go could be a mistake.

Had there been a normal offseason, then the team would have had time to prepare Cobb, and evaluate his capacity to pick up the system and contribute. Without that preperation time, he is unlikely to be able to perform in such a way as to replace James Jones.

Donald Driver is getting old, and said that he was unable to fully rehab his injury in the offseason. Jones performed very well when Driver was injured in the regular season.

The Packers beat defenses with thier scheme, and all the recievers learn all the positions so that they can be put in matchups that will enable them to beat the oppositions defense. James Jones is the most physically gifted of the Packer wideouts. He has the athletic ability to out leap defenders, and the speed and escapability to turn short plays into long ones.

Despite his drops, he has excellent hands. McCarthy says his drops are a product of concentration lapses, not bad hands. The Pack had another such reciever during the ninties in Antonio Freeman.

Consider this, despite being the third reciever in the Packer offense his whole career, he has comparable numbers to Sidney Rice of the Vikings who was a number one option for two years of his career.

If the goal of this season is to repeat as champions, then you have got to put your best team on the field. You do not have to worry about Ted Thompson over paying becuase he won’t. Teds system is similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers system, so we are going to loose some players we really like over the years, but this year is different, and maybe striking while the iron is hot can be done without damaging the futrue of the team.